St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1887-08-13
A r
Tremendous Pro0ts In the ManuGocture Oh
the Impure Mixtures.

Tremendous Profits In the ManuGacture Oh
the Impure Mixtares.
They have q notion in France that an
innocent o. perhaps ignorant purchaser
is entitled 10 some protection, and 50
all the shops where horse meat is sold
are compelled to place . horses head
over the door as a warning signal. In
the same line of policy is the Ameri-
can law, which requires that mys,eri-
Gus compound, oleomargarine. to be
marked. and the Massachusetts, Legisla-
ture will soon be called upon to take
action upon the matter Of lard adultera-
ton.
Mr.. John P. Squire. in giving q
history Of the increase in the adultera-
ton of lard. said that the business be-
gan in . very small way about six years
ago. At that time the price Of tallow
was nearly A. high Is that of lard. and
there WAS no profit in adulteration, but
since that time the price of tallow has
steadily declined and adulteration of
lard has been consequently increasing.
Mutton and beef tallow aud cottonseed
oil are used for the purpose. The ruling
price for the tallow is 4 cents q pound
and for the oil A. The oil is used
to bring the adulterated mixture up
to the consistency Of honest lard.
The net cost for making the mix
ture is A q pound or. delivered
in Boston. s cents. The mess pork
corner Of last winter advanced the price
Of hogs. and it is a fact that manufact-
urers of pure lard have been losing s Q
tierce on the actual cost Of material,
while hogs were higher the greases
at the old prices. and the
manufacturers of the a~dulterated mix
ture flooded the country with their prod
uct and cheapened the price Of lard
everywhere. Some of this mixture is
branded refined lard" and while good
oil may not be injurious. it
has to be bleached with sulphuric acid
for this purpose, and the same is true
IF the tallow. II any Of the acid re-
mains in the mixture it must be danger
BUS. but whether it does or not, the
compound is q swindle. The manu-
.'acturers Of it. and there is only one
refiner in the country who
loes not make it, put a better quality
n the pals than in the ~.ierccs. There
s some good lard in the pals. but
in the tierccs. 1t is for the
Of the packers to pre-
.ent adulteration, and the next
Of Congress will see them uni
ed in asking that something be done
bout it. The effort to have a law
nacted in this State began with the
and they ask that the obnox-
Gus compound be made to carry the
abel "adulterated," as oleomargarine
labeled. As an example of the profit =,
o the refiners who make this mixture. :
it be supposed that a fierce contains
90 pounds, and that $50 pounds of it
, pure lard. OF the other $50 pounds l
S are Of cottonseed and IS Of beef fat.
reckoning the price Of pure lard at q
ents and Of the adulterants at Al cents. .
is seen that on $50 pounds the refin-
rs start out with . clear profit Of $3.50
YER the man who puts up 800 pounds \
I honest lard. The cottonseed oil
,mes from the Southern States and
Re supply Of it is controlled by q cor
that has q monopoly. This Il.
,rporation pays cash to the planters
r the oil. and in that way gets it 50
heap. that were the planters to stop
i'd think > moment they would see
at it il better for them to keep the seed
fe~rtilizing purposes Adulterated
I'd is worse than Oleomargarine. be-
Iuse while the latter comes directly
the taste and can be summed. the -.
rmer gets into . persons stomach ,
directly and before he knows it. OF
'urse the a~dulterated mixture is not 50
nod for cooking purposes as the pure :.
nd. The bakers tried e0ttonseed oil :
I'd found that whatever was fried in
became hard and drv in . few hours
Boston Post